


Gifts and Garlands

by mansikka



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-08-25 10:02:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16659092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: Eddie and Venom prepare for Christmas.





	Gifts and Garlands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kampfhomo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kampfhomo/gifts).



> Hello! Here is a prompt filled for Kampfhomo for Christmas. Enjoy!

Christmas is going to be strange this year, the first one in a while that Eddie has actually wanted to spend alone. Not truly _alone_ , of course; Venom is curled beneath his skin like always, currently settled in his favorite spot at the back of his neck. But Anne and Dan's invitation to spend Christmas with them he'd turned down without even having to think it for Venom's opinion. He wants Christmas just the two of _them_ , and that is all he wants.

They have already got a tree that is decorated, taking up one corner of the lounge. Today is the day for buying decorations, and if he can figure out how, Eddie might try to buy Venom a gift. Though that is going to be difficult since he is wedged there inside his head.

 _Not wedged. Sleeping_.

"Okay, you're sleeping," Eddie says with a reassuring pat to the back of his neck. "I just don't know how I'd get you a gift without you knowing what it was."

Eddie makes three people startle when he bursts out laughing in the street for the image Venom puts in his thoughts of covering his eyes. Peeking through tendrils as he lurks at the corner of a shelf of whatever it is Venom thinks he might buy him.

"What would I even get you, anyway?" Eddie mumbles, thinking that might be the biggest problem with gift buying of all.

_No need. I like what you like. We like._

"Well that's just bull," Eddie retorts. "It's not _me_ that watches Spanish telenovas at three in the morning when we can't sleep."

_Do._

"Only when you drag me with you," he points out. "Most of the time when you watch them you're on your own. Not in me."

 _Always in you_ , Venom replies, and there is a tease in his tone that leaves Eddie grinning, telling himself he won't blush.

"Anyway. Is there anything you want? At all?"

_We have everything. Right here._

Eddie covers the tendril that wraps around his waist in a hug, smiling as more slot between his fingers. He shoves the door of the store he wants open with his free hand, hesitant for a moment at the sheer mass of Christmas _stuff_.

_Shiny._

"You're telling me."

Eddie grabs a cart that is ridiculously small, putting in his mind thoughts of Venom riding in the front of it. Venom wraps himself tighter around him in protest and does his version of shaking his head.

_Bad driving._

"Firstly, I am _not_ a bad driver," Eddie mumbles, navigating his way down the first aisle. "And secondly, this isn't something you _drive_."

Venom disagrees with him but turns his attention to the shelves, interested in everything he sees.

They are not the best of shoppers, the two of them. Eddie overhears discussions about _themes_ and _color schemes_ , yet he and Venom are more interested in quantity and coverage. Venom is anyway, directing him to garlands and tinsels and hanging things Eddie doesn't know the name of but will hang for him anyway. He draws the line at just one singing ornament — a huge fat Snowman that sings every possible Christmas song about snow — and four sets of fairy lights instead of the armful Venom tries to make him take.

Eddie is pleased with his purchases as he queues up to pay for them, tightly holding on to his smile for Venom trying to hum along to the Christmas music blaring out in the store. They make it out on the street before he bursts out laughing, swinging the bags from his fingers in time to Venom's attempts at singing.

"So. V. What can I get you for Christmas?"

 _Nothing_.

"Nothing at all?"

 _No_.

"You don't have any weird requests for a pile of heads or something?"

_We want that every day. Not only Christmas._

"Well _that's_ true," Eddie agrees, thinking surely he has the most difficult Christmas task of all; shopping for a symbiote. Though he has an idea that he folds away in the corner of his thoughts that Venom won't see, wondering if he can make it work. "Hey, V. Can you disappear for about a half hour?"

_Where?_

"I don't know. Anywhere. Can't you take nap?"

_If sleep now, more hungry later._

"Don't give me that crap," Eddie replies sending affectionate thoughts his way. "You're always hungry."

 _Yes. Hungry now_.

"I tell you what," Eddie says, purposefully avoiding looking at a similar store to the one he is planning on going into for Venom's _gift_. "You go to sleep now, then we'll stop by and get you something on the way home. Deal?"

Eddie snorts at the snoring noises sent his way, reaching out with his thoughts to check Venom really is asleep — or at least in that state of symbiosis he goes into where he won't be _listening_ to what he's doing. He steps into the store he wants near home, nudging Venom awake when he's done.

_Hey. V. You wanna eat?_

* * *

_Have something for you._

Eddie pauses from hanging up the last corner of a garland, smiling when Venom takes it from his hand to do it himself.

"Oh?"

 _Yes_.

Eddie steps down from the chair he's been perched on and turns as Venom forms before him, waiting to see what he does. "What?"

Venom smiles, and an arm-shaped tendril reaches behind his back, revealing a piece of mistletoe.

"Where'd you get that?" Eddie asks, laughing, watching Venom raise it over his head.

_Market._

They had walked through the market as a shortcut back from Venom's _snack_ , taking in the Christmas purchases around them and smiling at the decorated hall. Eddie now has a picture of Venom snagging that mistletoe from one of the displays and grins for the thought of someone seeing him do it.

"You know what you're supposed to do with it?" he asks as Venom nudges for his attention.

 _Yes_.

Eddie grins and leans in for his kiss, closing his eyes as Venom wraps around him.

* * *

On Christmas Eve morning, Eddie convinces Venom once again to take a nap, promising him extra _heads_ later when he's done what he needs to do. The butcher looks at him with an expression Eddie chooses not to try to decipher, though he's glad to be out of the store and home with his purchases quickly, storing them in the fridge out of sight before Venom is awake.

When Venom has had his fill on the streets, Eddie washes the taste away with an Irish coffee that Venom doesn't approve at all but doesn't grumble for, thinking thoughts of _Christmas cheer._

"How many Christmas movies have you been watching when I'm working or asleep?" Eddie asks as he people watches in the bar they stop at, wincing when the overloaded Christmas tree almost falls off the bar.

 _Many_.

"Got a favorite?"

_It's A Wonderful Life._

"Seriously?"

 _Yes_.

"Well. I'm more of a Die Hard guy myself—"

_Tomorrow. We watch all._

"Sounds like Christmas to me," Eddie replies, squeezing the back of his neck.

They go shopping for a little more food than normal since it's Christmas, with extra tater tots to fill the freezer along with pizza, and an order at their local Chinese place big enough to last a few days. Their chocolate purchases today are in the shape of Santas, gold coins, and just about every Christmas shape Venom has laid eyes on this past month.

He'd woken Eddie first thing this morning as he has done every morning throughout December, brandishing their advent calendars and feeding Eddie his chocolate after peeling back the door on his calendar before doing the same with his own. So chocolate is going to be a big feature of this Christmas, Eddie knows it and is prepared for it. He's made sure there is enough in already, with a couple of regular boxes of chocolates plus an expensive one as a treat, as well as all kinds of chocolate cookies, and even a yule log.

When they are home they unpack the last of their shopping, Eddie pleased when Venom appears before him and leans him back against the counter for a kiss. Venom sends thoughts of ways he'd like them to spend the rest of the evening that Eddie has no objection to at all. Happy to be carried over to the couch and sprawling out the moment they drop down on it.

In the fridge for tomorrow, so that Venom has something to eat while Eddie enjoys his sort-of Christmas dinner, there are slices of brain from as many animals as the butcher sells. It's the least romantic gift he thinks he's ever given, but Eddie knows even as Venom undresses him that it's something he'll be pleased with. Possibly more than anyone else has ever been pleased with his gifts in the past.

Their apartment looks more like Santa's grotto than Eddie has ever decorated a home, with Venom inspecting all the dangles and drapes in interest for hours each day since they've been up. He shoots a tentacle out now so that the only light they are bathed in is fairy lights that dance across them casting shadows that Eddie traces with his fingers.

"I'm so glad we're here," Eddie whispers, filling his head with thoughts of as much love and affection as he can, letting Venom know just how complete he feels having him in his life.

 _No thinking_ Venom tells him with a smile to his voice, distracting him with a kiss as he sends the same affection back. Showering Eddie with enough love to make this the best Christmas Eve he's ever had.


End file.
